Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
What percentage of crimes is committed by migrants in Russia?
Boris Panteleev, expert of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, Director of the Agency of Legal Information "Man and Law"
This issue is now the most controversial and debated. We have discussed it several times at the Public Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Department of Internal Affairs of Moscow, and every time there are different numbers.
Sometimes they are just shocking. For example, last year it was said that 50% of violent crimes are committed by migrants in Moscow.
We began to investigate it, and it turned out that these figures do not exceed 30 offenses.
Residents of the Russian Federation who came to Moscow to work in other regions of the Russian Federation were included in the number of migrants.
These are not "far-abroad" countries, this is not the "near abroad", these are our citizens, but they are included in the number of migrants.
So every time each single crime should be dealt with individually.
I would be very afraid to operate with these overall figures.
Why is the media heating up the situation around migrants even more?
Indeed, we are dealing with a surge of xenophobia in our society, and I'm afraid that we will have such long-term tragic consequences the scale of which is difficult to predict.
This is contrary to all the installations that our country has formulated for itself with great difficulty after lengthy discussions.
You know that last year we adopted the concept of migration policy in the sphere of the economic development of our country.
And it says that the workers are good, it is a necessary part of human resources, which are currently in short supply.
The human material should be strongly protected, raised, nurtured and respected.
And all government agencies should facilitate this; otherwise, we will have a demographic collapse.
Otherwise, we will suffer from economic depression.
And after all this, today we are faced with such measures, I think these are barbaric actions, in fact, but, unfortunately, they are largely supported by the public.
So we have here a conflict between a good, fair, democratic law and very backward sense of justice of the people who are xenophobic.
It's really a long trend. For more than 5 years surveys have been conducted, for example, in Moscow, and more than 60% of citizens say they suffer from migrants.
This is a very strange position, given that on the shoulders of workers there is actually a huge amount of very hard work.
But these sentiments are heated, including by politicians who want to build their political career on this populist wave.
What do we need to do in the legal field to reduce the number of problems with migrants?
In principle, we have an answer to this. It is formulated in the "Principles of State Policy in the Sphere of Legal Awareness".
This document was signed by the President of the Russian Federation on April 28, 2011.
It says that we need a whole set of measures for the elimination of legal nihilism and hostility to government agencies and to each other.
This is work with educational institutions, it starts in kindergartens and schools, continues in universities where this negative mood is spread.
This is work in the media, where, unfortunately, some headlines are shocking and incite ethnic strife and hatred.
It is work with ethnic communities, fraternities, that is, the use of traditional mechanisms, including religious organizations, they must also be included in these processes.
And there is a cultural component, that is, the culture that we today broadcast from the entertainment programs or the youth series is really explosive.
There are jokes on the verge of foul there. And they are not suppressed but rather are broadcast and even rise to the level of governors, when all those who have not the end of the names of the majority of the population are illegals and must leave this land.
This is a very dangerous mood, and it needs to be resisted.
Here the role of the public is very high, when, say, the police are planning any event, it is sometimes important for them to consult with their community councils about the following repercussions.
Now experts on international relations and on the issue of combating discrimination exist in Russia and are well-prepared, but the officials do not always listen to them before making a responsible decision.